( 2 9 ) F r a n c i s S c o t t F i t z g e r a l d , J a z z A g e, a n d A f t e r
T h e J a zz A g e ( 1 9 2 0 s )
H i st o r i c a l B a c kg r o u n d :
- an age of bohemian rebellion in the 1920s
- characteristic by the sense of rootlessness and the lack of sense of a serious purpose
- (–) WW I (1914 – 18), a flu epidemy (1918 – 19)
- (–) the tendency of moving to the cities: an increased criminality here
- (–) the Prohibition (1919): an increased consummation of alcohol, its illegal sale, and criminality
- (+) a scientific and economic boom: the rise of new technologies, capitalism, materialism, and the new money tycoons
- (+) entertainment: the rise of jazz and film entertainment
- (+) an Amendment to the Constitution: a change of the woman’s position, the franchise for women
- result: F. S. Fitzgerald announces (1931) the end of the Jazz Age in 1929
L i t e r a t u r e :
- a lit. growth comparable only to the Am. Renaissance
- the Am. lit. definitively ceases to be provincial
- the writers leave for Eur., and experiment
Ø E a r l i e r G e n e r a t i o n ( u n t i l 1 9 1 2 ) :
- poetry: T. S. Eliot, E. Pound, H. D., M. Moore, C. Sandburg, E. L. Masters, R. Frost, W. C. Williams, and W. Stevens
- prose: G. Stein, S. Anderson, W. Cather, and S. Lewis
- drama: E. O’Neill
Ø L a t e r G e n e r a t i o n ( a f t e r 1 9 1 9 ) :
- prose: W. Faulkner, J. D. Passos, E. Hemingway, F. S. Fitzgerald, and T. Wilder
- poetry: H. Crane
- drama: E. Rice, T. Wilder
Ø W r i t e r s o f t h e H a r l e m R e n a i ssa n c e
F r a n c i s Sc o t t F i t zg e r a l d ( 1 8 9 6 – 1 9 4 0 )
L i f e :
- his father b. into a poor, though socially prominent family x his mother b. into ‘new money’
- felt a ‘poor boy’, though middle class > a deep ambivalence twd both money and social status
- left uni (Princeton) without degree, sacrificed academic achievement to social success, and equated social celebrity and success to lit. – see his “The Crack-up” (1936)
- received a military training
- fell in love with Zelda, worked desperately at his novel This Side of Paradise to win lit. and financial success to persuade Z. to marry him
- married Z. (1920): led a glamorous, extravagant, and emotionally stormy life style
- spent 2 y. at a Fr. Riviera seaside resort (1922 – 24): drank to excess, spent more than earned, and tried his hand at an unsuccessful play The Vegetable (1923)
- undertook a 2-y. extended Eur. trip (1924 – 26): met G. Stein and E. Pound, and began a tense competitive friendship with E. Hemingway
- experienced an abrupt reversal of fortune (1931): the deepening of the Great Depression, his deepening debts and alcoholism, and Z.’s mental breakdown and placement to a mental home
- ð declared the end of the Jazz Age
- continued drinking, tried scriptwriting to cover his debts x but: achieved no success, and died at 44 of a heart attack
W o r k :
- sensitiveness to social class
- a divided consciousness: simultaneously attracted x repulsed, enchanted x offended by sexual love and great wealth
- a new concept an archetypical Am. hero: a poor man gains money x but: not happiness ð money does not equal to happiness
- conc. with the Am. expatriate characters
Ø F i c t i o n :
- his short stories publ. regularly in magazines with both commercial and critical success
Flappers and Philosophers (1920), Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), and All the Sad Young Men (1926):
- coll. of short stories
- introd. the word ‘flapper’ = a challenging, self-confident, and educated woman
- > “The Rich Boy”: the lead story of All the Sad Young Men
This Side of Paradise (1920):
- an autobiog. novel about a young Princeton college student and his loves
- an immediate sensation
- F. became an overnight celebrity, a week after the publ. married Z., and became a cultural hero to the ‘flappers and philosophers’ of the era he named (= the Jazz Age)
The Beautiful and the Damned (1922):
- a young couple’s moral and sexual dissolution in parties, alcohol, and drugs
- his own experience of his marriage
- a failure
The Great Gatsby (1925):
- his finest novel about his favourite themes of love and money
- language: rich in vocabulary, original in figures of speech, and masterly in party descriptions and quick one sentence descriptions
- setting: the new money West Egg (Gatsby) x the old money East Egg (the Buchanans)
- symbols: G.’s house (= the ‘castle’ transported from Eur.), the green light G. likes to watch, the lines of the advertisement, symbolic settings, etc.
Themes:
- a poor man gains money x but: not happiness – G. succeeds in getting rich, throws parties hoping Daisy will show up x but: fails in winning her, fails to win even little respect by his guests
- a different social class produces a different temperament – D. shares many of her character features with Tom, none with G.
Characters:
- the would-be-upper class Gatsby: of obscure orig., displays the material things to impress, plays the extravagance though not enjoying it, and hopes to win the ticket to the upper class
- the middle class Nick: the only middle class character and the only round character
- G. ó N.: both try to win success, money, and love
- the upper class Daisy and Tom Buchanan: of an establ. secure social status, do not show at the parties, and do not need to show off their wealth
- D. ó T.: both cynical, selfish, and cruel in pursuing their respective aims (T. arranges G.’s death) = two mutually independent, individual, and morally empty beings sharing their character features and money
- (a) N. attracted by the old money x disliked G.’s new money and his showing off (his ‘college’ photo on the wall, his big house intended to impress, etc.)
- (b) N. eventually remained the only to respect G.
Tender is the Night (1934):
- the title: from J. Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”
- an alcoholic Am. psychiatrist disastrously marries one of his wealthy patients, modelled after Zelda
- received poorly
The Last Tycoon:
- a self-made Hollywood producer
- remained unfinished
Ø N o n - f i c t i o n :
“The Crack-up” (1936):
- his life ó the 1920s decade = a youthful enthusiasm and euphoria > tension and trauma